"You did it first!"

"No, I didn't. You were being careless."

"Oh, so now you're blaming me? You're kidding me."

"Guys, stop your stupid quarrel. Seungkwan's nose is bleeding."

"This is all because of you."

"Really? What about you? Are you-"

Seungkwan woke up with an indescribable amount of headache traveling from the throbbing pain on one side of his head to the feeling of tight band of squeezing pressure around his head. The disturbing headache wasn't caused by the previous incident. Moreover, the pain came from the sadness of living a life with nosy people. It's simply one hell of a pain in the ass.

"Seungkwan, you're awake!" He heard a voice from his right which belonged to Jisoo.

Squinting his eyes, Seungkwan sit himself on the bed. "No shit, Sherlock." He felt like repeating the exact sentence from the day he met Jisoo.

It seemed like Seungkwan underestimated the incident that happened to him. Besides, he had faced probably 69 nosebleeds in a lifetime, that wasn't a big deal. However, he forgot how a literal basketball which a person had already put strength within a single push slammed his beautiful, no, bootiful face that he spent years persevering its beauty with the help of skin care products from Jeju. (skin care products from Jeju are srsly the best)

At this moment, Seungkwan's nose stung like a bitch.

He shrieked, "My nose." From the tip until the bridge, he touched his nose in horror. "Where's the fucking mirror?" His eyes pierced coldly towards Jisoo's direction.

"Seungkwan, your nose is swelling now. It might take a few days to heal, but I can ensure you that it will go back to its original size and color." Jisoo started sweating panickly.

"Okay then." He sighed. Taking a look at his nose in this condition might not be the best decision since screaming in his house's bathroom seemed more legit than to scream inside of the school's infirmary.

He didn't want to cause anymore attention.

"I'm sorry," Jisoo suddenly said. "I'm sorry for hitting your face with a basketball."

"It's okay," Seungkwan ensured, "it must be an accident. Actually, I don't even think someone as nice as you were the one causing this." He pointed at his swelling nose.

Jisoo's finally able to smile. "You're too nice, Seungkwan."

"Talking about nice, keeping me company while I'm sleeping proves you are a nice person."

"Actually..." Jisoo trailed off. "Hansol and I were fighting to get the ball. Considering we were too deep into the game, we lost focus and didn't realize the ball flew to your face. It was both our faults and we're both felt bad for being childish at times. That's why I chose to accompany you until you wake up to make sure we didn't cause you any harm."

Hansol, huh? Everytime Seungkwan heard his name, trouble always came with it. Perhaps he's bound to get into troubles and Seungkwan didn't know how to feel about it.

"Seungkwan, are you okay?" Jisoo began to look concerned. The guilt hadn't left him completely.

He nodded. "Don't worry, I'm fine." He showed Jisoo a gummy smile. "Where's Hansol?"

Shit, was I too obvious?

"He's currently facing detention, but it's not due to this incident," he confirmed, "he was caught fighting with another student, so you shouldn't wait for him. I was told to send him his apology to you."

Again, he's bound to get into troubles. Seungkwan started to think that hanging out with him would be a very poor decision due to his records. Seungkwan feared he might someday get involved to one of his problems.

Seungkwan took a quick glance at Jisoo. "Jisoo, are you close with Hansol?"

Jisoo was puzzled, judging from the way his pupils dilated. "We were, but we're not that close anymore. He's my childhood friend after all."

"Ah, makes sense."

"Seungkwan," Jisoo called again.

"Yes?" Crap, I must've dozed off so many times.

"I want to repay you for everything that happened today." His tone sounded like he didn't care whether Seungkwan refused his offer or not because he's doing it anyway. "Instead of handing you money, can we hang out on the weekend? You know... like in a café or something. Anywhere you like."

"Café sounds nice." Hearing Jisoo being so desperate in hanging out with him made him a little guilty because he was the first person who helped him during his bothersome first day.

These days he would spend his day with Soonyoung and Seokmin and he guessed that made Jisoo felt left out. If anything, Seungkwan absolutely hated the thought of hurting others' feelings, especially when it's a nice person's feeling he's toying with.

"Here's my number. We can talk about it on the phone." Seungkwan wrote his number on a sticky note next to the bed because he's too lazy to look for his phone.

Jisoo accepted the small piece of paper. "Thank you. I'll contact you later."

It's nice to know how he managed to befriend three people despite not being a student for so long. When he assumed that Seoul people are cold, these people proved him wrong. They're all very warm and easy going.

Except for someone.

The thought of hanging out with Hansol made him cringe very hard. He disliked everything about that boy. Hansol's first impression was terrible and there's no way he would catch feelings for that boy.

That's what he thought.

"Seungkwan, we brought your backpack!" Seokmin came inside the infirmary carrying Seungkwan's bag. Although his body was hidden behind Seokmin, Seungkwan could recognize Soonyoung tailing from behind.

Seungkwan wondered how things were going with them, considering they were told to meet Mr. Cho beforehand.

"How did—"

"We lied." Seokmin put on a cheeky smile.

Soonyoung crossed his hands proudly. "We excused ourselves to the restroom first to plan our greatest mischief and successfully carried our plan, though Seokmin almost spill the tea."

"You have good friends." Jisoo smiled at them, then to Seungkwan. "I'll see you later. Rest well."

"I will. Thanks," he replied.

As soon as Jisoo left the room, Seokmin and Soonyoung rushed to Seungkwan's side and told him the whole story of their experience with Mr. Cho when Seungkwan was sleeping. Seungkwan listened attentively, even to his surprise but he couldn't not listen because they had this talent in storytelling. They made themselves appeared innocent, when in reality they're not. School hours had passed an hour ago and they're still there.

After that, they went straight to their houses. Seungkwan waved his hand as he parted ways with his friends who went on different routes. Before going to the bus stop, Seungkwan decided to stop by at a convenience store store to buy himself a mask in attempt to hide his nose.

Knowing himself, Seungkwan who only planned to buy mask eventually bought some snacks too and of course, a cup noddle. This is why he hates shopping.

"Seungkwan?" Upon hearing his name being mentioned, Seungkwan looked at the cashier's face before him.

Startled, Seungkwan almost dropped the cup noodle. "Seungcheol? You work here?"

"No shit, Sherlock." He scanned the items with his sexy arms, yet very cute fingers.

Soonyoung and Seokmin were right about the Hophop squad. They seemed intimidating as a team, but they're actually harmless individuals packed with bara arms.

He handed Seungcheol the exact amount of money showed on the mini computer screen, then proceeded to eat the cup noodle at that place because he loved the view.

What Seungkwan didn't expect was to meet Jeonghan sitting there with two empty cups of cup noodles and onigiri wrappings scattered on the table. Not to mention his empty slushie cup just by looking at the leftover blue color at the very bottom. As expected, he's sleeping as soon as he finished eating, therefore Seungkwan cleaned his mess before he gets triggered even further.

While waiting for his own noodles to cook, Seungkwan put on his earphones and listened to his Spotify playlist with his eyes closed.

"Ayo ladies, this is your story~" he hummed, fingers snapping.

From beyond the fourth wall, Jihoon closed his ears tightly since he hated the song very much. The song gave him flashbacks of his life before he turned to a god.

In the moment where Seungkwan was immersed in the song, the ads ruined the mood. He just realized he forgot to pay his Spotify Premium account, so it turned back to its regular mode. What a bummer.

Other than the annoying 30 seconds ad, the pop up notification from his phone annoyed him to the fullest.

Unknown
can we do it tomorrow?

Seungkwan
what's with the ambiguous question

Unknown
no, that wasn't my intention, you pervert.

Seungkwan
sorry wrong number

Unknown
o right, Seungkwan. i forgot to tell you that this is my number.

Seungkwan
oh,, jisoo? i thought we're going on the weekend 🤔

Unknown
Jisoo? no, this is Hansol.

Seungkwan
wow i completely forgot

Hansol
so, can we do it tomorrow?

Seungkwan
the group project? sure

Hansol
ok, i'm coming to your house tomorrow after school.

Seungkwan
my house?

"Woah, who are you chatting with? Your girlfriend?" Seungcheol's voice startled him to the point where he almost dropped his precious phone.

He almost cussed. "Canoodle, you scared the shit out of me." Well, he did say a bad word.

Seungcheol responded with a chuckle. "No need to be so stiff to me. I'm basically harmless once I walked out of the school gate."

"What are you? A werewolf?" Seungkwan mocked, eyes rolling sarcastically.

"Pretty much," he said. "By the way, how are you liking the school so far? Have you gotten yourself a boyfriend already? I mean... I won't be surprised cause you got that cake."

Seungkwan didn't like the way this Seungcheol guy kept prying for more information. Some questions felt unneeded to be answered, thus he decided not to answer them. Nevertheless, actions speak louder than words.

"What do you think about Hansol?" he suddenly blurted out.

The black haired male gave him teasing looks. "He's a good friend. He's always unpredictable. Sometimes he's like an annoying brat, sometimes he treats people with much care. I think his behavior depends on how he perceives a person."

"Perceives a person?"

"Exactly," he agreed. "He likes people who are hard to handle like us, the Hophop squad. If you notice him acting different from his usual bratty lifestyle, that means he's interested in you."

"Interested?" As much as he disliked the thought of befriending Hansol, some part of him wanted to get to know the boy more. The sense of curiosity overpowered his hatred towards him. "What about Jisoo?" Seungkwan changed the topic before his mind traveled elsewhere.

"He's a really nice person, though he's kinda busy. The teachers like him, so he has the authority to bargain with the teachers when things get controversial."

"I thought so too."

"But honestly," he corroborated, "he's such a precious boy. Don't ever try to hurt him."

Seungkwan gave his words a thought. "Seungcheol, you sound like you're in love with Jisoo."

"Haha..." he chuckled. "No way. I only admire him. There's nothing more to our friendship."

"I'll trust you for now." Seungkwan slurped his noodle. "By the way, why aren't you working?"

Seungcheol pointed at another cashier. "It's his turn now. My shift has ended."

Seungkwan took a quick look at the young cashier who just replaced Seungcheol's position. A handsome looking late teenager with the name 'Minhyun' hanging on his front pocket.

The Minhyun guy seemed like he noticed, hence he gave Seungkwan a friendly smile. Seungkwan didn't know where to hide his face because he's so embarrassed about being caught looking at a stranger.

"Seungcheol, get your ass back here and help me move these boxes." He pointed at boxes of newly arrived snacks. "If I caught you slacking off again, I'd tell the manager."

The mentioned boy pouted. "Sheesh, you're so stiff." He patted Seungkwan's shoulder before standing up. "Well, I'll see you later in school, Seungkwan."

"Okay."

Sighing in boredom, Seungkwan checked his phone again. He's been waiting for Hansol's text, but he seemed busy. However, another notification popped up to his screen.

Unknown
Hey Seungkwan, this is Jisoo's number. Can you save my contact?

Seungkwan
sure thing ☺️

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